BC Hydro Releases Revised Draft Integrated Resource Plan
for Consultation – Clean Energy Act
Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy and Mines and Minister responsible for Core Review, [recently] directed BC Hydro to release its draft Integrated Resource Plan (the IRP) to the public and carry out another round of public consultation with the public, stakeholders and First Nations.

The draft IRP provides a 20-year outlook of how BC Hydro expects to reliably and cost-effectively meet the anticipated future electricity needs of the province through conservation and acquisition of sufficient generation and transmission resources. The Clean Energy Act (the Act), which was introduced in 2010, obligated BC Hydro to submit an IRP by December 2, 2011 or within 18 months of the Act coming into force. The BC government first extended the due date for the IRP in May 2011 to allow BC Hydro to incorporate findings from a government review.

BC Hydro released an initial draft of the IRP for public consultation in May 2012. The BC government subsequently announced on November 2, 2012 that it would delay the submission of BC Hydro's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to Cabinet until August 3, 2013 – three months after the provincial election – due to uncertainty of electricity requirements for prospective liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in northern BC. View full article by Joshua Walters with McCarthy Tetrault.

Harmac Begins Pumping Power into BC Hydro Electrical Grid
The Harmac pulp mill has begun feeding power from its new $45-million electrical generation plant to BC Hydro, creating a second major revenue source to the Nanaimo mill for the first time in its more than 50-year history. The project marks the final phase of the five-year initiative begun by Nanaimo Forest Products, Harmac's owners since 2008, to engage in major projects to upgrade the aging mill's systems and make its operations as green as possible. Since its takeover by NFP, a four-way partnership that includes Harmac workers and three private partners, the mill has seen investments of more than $100 million in capital projects through government grants and its own funding to improve efficiencies and reduce its carbon footprint. View the full article by Robert Barron, Daily News.

Consumer Tax Bulletin for Logging Industry
Bulletin PST 112, Logging Industry, is a new bulletin that provides information to help businesses in the logging industry understand how the PST applies to their businesses.

BC Sawmill Study Makes Surprise Finding on
Using Moisture to Prevent Deadly Explosions
Wet wood dust can explode just like dry wood dust: report
The smallest-sized wet wood dust is just as explosive as dry wood dust from BC Interior sawmills, according to a report prepared by FPInnovations for the provincial sawmill sector.

The surprise finding – which raises questions about the usefulness of misting at sawmills – was part of a first-of-its-kind study in British Columbia ordered after a pair of deadly sawmill explosions in the province last year that killed four workers.

"It was assumed moisture would be a bigger factor," said Darrell Wong, one of the report's authors. He is a manager of FPInnovations, the non-profit forestry research centre at the University of BC.

But Wong said more study must be done before sawmills should consider jettisoning misting systems. Misting systems have a secondary function of knocking wood dust out of the air. View Vancouver Sun article.

World Watching how BC Wrestles with How to Protect Drinking Water
As BC looks to update its century-old water laws, government sources and experts are looking outside the province for examples of how to move forward. Likewise, experts elsewhere are watching how BC plans to modernize its water laws for the 21^st century.

"There's a real opportunity here for BC to go from being behind the rest of North America, to leapfrogging the pack and being a leader on this issue," said Oliver Brandes, co-director of University of Victoria's POLI Project on Ecological Governance. "Other people from elsewhere, experts in their fields who are dealing with it, they're seeing BC and seeing the opportunity."

A Ministry of Environment spokesman said in an email that changes are expected next year, adding "There is much to be learned through a review of leading thought and practices in other jurisdictions as we develop the new Act." Read full article in The Province.